Policies

The primary purpose of the CS systems is to support the educational, research, and service missions of the department. Consequently, these are to be the primary usages of accounts issued on the system.

Usage of the system for other purposes (e.g., recreational) is permitted only to the extent that it (a) does not violate policy (see below) and (b) does not interfere with the system’s primary mission.

Usages Excluded By Policy

Commercial usages.

Usages that violate laws and statutes, including software copyright and licensing protections.

Transmission of harassing or threatening material. For example: transmitting to a user after explicitly being asked to cease said transmission; transmitting to a user after it becomes clear that said transmission is causing the user discomfort.

Violating the privacy of another user, for example, by accessing without permission another user’s files.

Subverting the access controls associated with one’s account in order to gain privileges that the Department does not intend be associated with the account. This includes use of one’s account to gain access to a remote system from where actions which violate that system’s policies are performed.

System administrators and others with special access privileges will not use those privileges to violate the privacy of computer users. In particular, protected files and email communications will be accessed only in the face of strong suspicion that an account is being used in a manner prohibited by policy. All such accesses will be in accordance with University policy.

In addition to usages which by their nature are forbidden, our policy forbids usage that interferes with the computer system’s primary mission. Examples of such usage are:

Usage not related to the system’s primary mission and which consumes resources to the point where system performance is affected.

Transmission of communications which is distracting to the point that it interferes with other users’ ability to perform their work. This includes communications to an inappropriately wide audience.

The course professor should submit requests for computer accounts and software needed for a Computer Science class to the CS Support Advisory Committee (CSSAC). The CSSAC determines which software will be supported and recommends software purchases to the department chair.

The CS Support Group (CSS) will provide computer accounts and install and maintain software approved by the CSSAC.

The CSS will provide consultation support for widely used software such as emacs, vi, gcc, etc. Consultation support for specialized software used in a Computer Science class is to be primarily provided by the course professor and teaching assistants. CSS will assist as time and resources permit. Such specialized software includes, but is not limited to, special compilers (e.g. Scheme, Prolog, Smalltalk, Java, ML, Lisp,Tcl/Tk), graphics software (e.g. RenderMan , WaveFront, Inventor, Performer, OpenGL libraries), and others (e.g. Mathematica, Khoros, Oracle).

If ITS has resources to support the computing needs of a class, support for that class should be provided by ITS.

The CSS software installation deadline for each software package is determined by the CSSAC. Requests for major packages (e.g. Oracle, Khoros, WaveFront, ML) should be submitted as far in advance as possible. Ideally this would be the semester before the course is taught. The principle is to give as much notice as possible to allow adequate time to plan.

The CSS will provide support for obtaining and installing software on CS machines as well as on ITS machines. In all cases, these activities should be viewed as a team effort involving the faculty member, the CSS, and ITS.

Please note that support for Computer Science classes is one of many support functions. Highest priority is given to keeping systems, file servers, mail, and network services operational. Concerns about priorities will be addressed by the CSSAC.